The era of high memory prices may be here to stay. LENOVO GROUP has issued a warning at the ISC 2026 conference, stating that DRAM and NAND flash prices have entered a structural upward cycle. Even with major manufacturers continuing to expand production, it will be extremely difficult for prices to fall back to early-2025 levels, with elevated costs becoming the "new normal" through 2030 and beyond.
During its conference presentation, LENOVO GROUP displayed charts illustrating the price trends for DRAM and NAND products. According to its analysis, although major memory producers like Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron are accelerating the construction of new capacity, the effects of this expansion are unlikely to bridge the supply-demand gap, with prices expected to remain elevated long-term. Concurrently, Micron has publicly stated it cannot meet market demand, including for strategic-level customers, with Samsung and SK Hynix signaling similar supply constraints that are difficult to alleviate in the short term.
This assessment has profound implications for the entire consumer electronics supply chain. LENOVO GROUP cautions that high memory costs will be passed down to PCs, gaming consoles, smartphones, and all end products incorporating memory or solid-state drives, meaning consumers will face sustained pressure for higher device prices over the next decade.
Price escalation began in late 2025 and continues unabated.
Based on data presented by LENOVO GROUP at ISC 2026, the current rapid climb in memory prices started between the end of the third quarter and the beginning of the fourth quarter of 2025. At that time, DRAM and NAND prices began to diverge from their previous cyclical fluctuation range, accelerating to highs not widely anticipated by the market.
LENOVO GROUP points out that while major manufacturers are pushing forward with capacity expansions and building new fabs to address the imbalance, these measures have a very limited practical effect on lowering prices. The pace at which the supply-demand gap is widening is exceeding the rate of production ramp-up, reducing the likelihood of prices returning to early-2025 levels.
It is worth noting that the presenter's comments at the conference contained a humorous tone, but the judgment regarding high prices becoming the norm post-2030 is still regarded as a formal industry warning signal.
Vendor expansion plans offer little near-term relief.
Among the major memory makers, SK Hynix has announced it will significantly accelerate its capacity expansion roadmap, originally scheduled for after 2040, to a timeframe after 2030, aiming to triple memory output from current levels by that point.
However, LENOVO GROUP and industry observers remain skeptical about whether this expansion can genuinely ease supply-demand tensions. Micron has explicitly stated it cannot currently fulfill orders even for its most strategically important customers. Statements from Samsung and SK Hynix are similarly pessimistic, with several leading manufacturers effectively leveraging this period of tight supply to secure substantial profits.
Against the backdrop of continuously explosive demand for AI infrastructure, the growth rate for High Bandwidth Memory and general-purpose DRAM remains robust. Whether the new supply from expanded capacity can match the concurrent increase in demand remains an open question.
End consumers face pressure as price increases across all device categories appear unavoidable.
LENOVO GROUP's warning implies that high prices for memory and SSDs will continue to be passed on to end products over the coming decade. PCs, gaming consoles, smartphones, and other consumer electronics containing memory components will all bear the burden of higher component costs.
For the average consumer, this suggests the era of low-cost PCs and entry-level smart devices may be fading. The enterprise sector is not immune either—procurement costs for servers and data center infrastructure will rise alongside memory prices, further elevating the overall investment threshold for AI and cloud computing infrastructure.
LENOVO GROUP's decision to proactively share this assessment at ISC 2026 is interpreted within the industry as a forward-looking budget alert for procurement decision-makers and corporate clients: high memory prices are not a temporary shock but a structural variable that must be factored into long-term cost planning.
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